My name is Nomaqhawe Mangena popularly known as Noma. I came to Canada late 2001, and attaining post-secondary education has always been my dream, when an opportunity availed itself, I went back to school and pursued Business Administration studies. I am a Human Resources professional, I hold an Ontario Advanced Business Administration Diploma from Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology and I am currently working towards a Bachelor of Management with Athabasca University. I work with a lot of individuals in the community on a one-on-one basis with Career planning, job searching, interview preparation and life strategies. My hobbies are to care for my body, eating well, staying fit and taking an hour of personal time every day. My success came as a result of my faith in God, hard work, coaching and mentoring from my family. Due to fact that I am a goal orientated person, I set personal goals occasional and plan how to achieve; failure is not an option for me, but an opportunity to strive for more goals.

Tell us what many people may not know about you? I love to cook. I believe I am an excellent cook. As a child I have always aspired to open a restaurant. As a kid, I loved singing.

What's your inspiration and how do you get motivated?I have immense hunger for success; I keep myself motivated, by setting goals and planning towards achieving the goals in place. Failure is not an option, but an opportunity to look for better ways to do things.

How did you get to where you are now and what more should we expect?Hard work and determination has got me to where I am now. I am a planner, by nature I am constantly planning my life and, if there a block on my plan I quickly think of a detour route to get to a destination. My long term goals are I intend to pursue an Executive MBA with Athabasca University.

What would you like to be remembered for?Being problem solver, systematic thinker, a strategic thinker, clever and a selfless person

How do you balance work, family, friends and leisure?I use a calendar to keep track of my kids’ school events, appointments and schedule time award myself some down time to enjoy life with my kids and friends. Daily it is important for me to take 1 hour to myself to refresh my mind.

What are your favorite food, book, music and movie?Food: SalmonBook: Who moved my cheese by Spencer Johnson.I am not really a movie person, but I enjoy live theatre and one show I like is – Da kink in my hair.

What's your experience as a Black person in Canada? (Also suggest solutions if any challenge in the community or as a black person)I haven’t experienced any challenges, because one of strength is that I easily adapt to situations. I hear from a number of black people from various ethnicities raising their concerns on challenges they face in securing professional jobs and discrimination. Although most of these concerns are founded however some of the problems are caused by lack of cultural integration of most black people into the Canadian culture.

Are there as many opportunities for Blacks in Canada that can produce role models and institutions like TD Jakes, Beyonce, Tyler Perry, Obama, BET, etc.There are a lot opportunities those opportunities is for us, we should not wait for anyone to make opportunities for us but we can make opportunities for ourselves. I believe blacks in the United States have a culture that brings them together, it maybe hip-hop, BET and basketball. We too hear in Canada we need to find commonalities that we have among us as black people from various ethnicities from these commonalities we create unifying element that will give us an identity as Afro-Canadian.

Mention a few of your favorite Black Canadian Leaders, Artists and Role Models?Honorable Michelle JeanCity Councillor, Toronto-Michael Thompson

Should & do Blacks support / patronize black music, events and businesses?Yes we should support the music and businesses. In my opinion the challenge is that being black is marred with negative publicity, such that there is not pride in being associated with our black culture.

Whats your understanding of Black History in Canada?Black history is not celebrated on a large scale compared to the USA. There is a need for Black Canadians to take owners of Canadian Black history

A few words from Noma to an uninspired personPersistence, goal setting, planning, continuously self assessing yourself and plans is the key to success. It is important to align yourself with people who are higher than you, in terms of intellectual and success, this will inspire your and motivate you. Also have one person who is your life coach , who can hold you accountable for your actions and for things you have planned to do, a meet occasionally with that person to motivate each other.